Emory Student Reports Rape in Wooded Area Near Emory Village

Decatur Metro| February 12, 2014| 7:07 am

Emory sent out this wide alert late Tuesday night…

A female Emory student reported to Emory Police that she was raped at about 11:15 PM on Tuesday, February 11, 2014 in the wooded area between Dowman Drive and Oxford Road near the Emory Village traffic circle.

The perpetrator is described as a white male, mid-to-late 50’s, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a reddish or brown beard, wearing a brown or green beanie cap, a tan or brown jacket, dark blue jeans, and brown boots. He was last seen running from campus toward the Emory Village.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the Emory Police Department at 404-727-6111.

Emory wants to provide a safe community. If you ever feel that the safety of your environment is somehow compromised, please report it immediately by dialing one of the emergency contact numbers listed below.

The post title is reflective of the wording in the alert. While I understand your concern, the title that you’re suggesting requires more info than is currently available to anyone. The alternative would have been to hold the post until we could state more definitively that the event did occur, but it seemed like info that people in the area would want to know.

“Other news/information outlets are titling it the same way.” — which merely underscores the problem. A homeowner contacts police and reports that certain belongings have been taken from their home or car… A woman contacts police and reports that she’s been raped. In one instance, the typical news report, in its language, assumes the victim has been truthful and accurate and refers to the crime as reported, never questioning whether or not specific items were in fact taken (and the owner is not just trying to scam extra insurance). In the other instance, news reports typically hedge and refer to the “reported” or “alleged” crime, insisting that great care be exercised not to acknowledge the victim as such, until proven otherwise.

IMO this is another good opportunity to examine how subconscious attitudes affect how we think about and describe things.

I forget who was behind it, as it was several years ago, but there was some politician (Georgia-based, I think) who wanted to prevent the word “victim” being used in court during rape cases because, according to him, it implied someone was guilty of a crime. Now, if such an idea were applied to all cases, it would be one thing, but clearly there was an agenda behind that guy’s idea.

Right. Understood. I’m all for having that conversation. But in this case, we’re working with a release that doesn’t give much information beyond a report of a rape. So it’s not necessarily an apples to apples comparison to a burglary report as is being suggested. I haven’t done an extensive analysis of how I’ve titled burglary posts but they do sometimes include the word “reported”, despite what’s been asserted. Additionally, burglary alerts have often been investigated by police before they’re sent out to press so couching a title in “reported” seems less necessary in those cases.

That said, there probably have been instances where I’m more inclined to write “reported” than not, but I think it’s more about the severity of the crime and not wanting to get it wrong than any subconscious gender-bias. (Not denying bias, just not sure it’s a major motivator here) For example, I wouldn’t expect much blowback if someone were to falsely report that stuff had been taken from their car and I had written “Items Stolen from Car”. But if I wrote “Woman Raped…” and it turned out to be false, I would think people would expect a retraction, right?

I honestly don’t think there’s a real danger of “blow-back” from reporting an allegation that later proved false, as long as the report didn’t accuse a particular assailant.

I can’t speak for Cirrus or anyone else, but in my mind, at least, the worthwhile conversation isn’t specifically about “how DM headlines shared news releases.” You basically aggregate and relay news from various sources. Your headline simply followed the lead of the release issued by Emory. What I find bothersome is how the mainstream press typically reports sexual assault. That’s a larger conversation that might occur if we make room for it here.

It can become dangerous territory if a reporter assigns certainty to a situation before it is substantiated. I understand what you are saying, but a burglary is not the same thing as rape. A burglary would be far easier and faster to substantiate than a sexual assault.

Interesting and difficult discussion above, but I’m not sure what to make of it. Nothing in the headline to me denigrated the authenticity of the accusation or seriousness of the situation. Similarly, if some sort of abuse occurred at my kid’s school, I would assume early headlines would read “Abuse Reported at ___ School.” I want the facts and I want justice all the same.

If someone goes missing, they are often “reported missing”. It is a term to describe an evolving investigation that doesn’t alter, demean or undermine the reality of the event.

Separately, what I find more disturbing is that this story has not received more coverage – I would like to assume there is a reason for that.